Presentation of traffic information, for example, by television stations on their main on-air channel, web, and mobile platforms is limited to map-based, color-coded traffic “flow” data. The data is encoded using 3-5 colors, where typically a shade of green is used to show free flowing traffic, yellow is used to show impeded flow, red is used for stop-and-go traffic. Other colors may be used to depict closed roads. In addition to color-coded flow information, traffic incidents such as accidents, first responder activity, construction, and the like are depicted using two or three-dimensional icons that can be queried interactively by on-air talent to identify ancillary information related to the incident that cannot be ascertained simply by viewing the icon. Television stations often supplement their visual displays with drive time graphs and displays for recognized driving routes, video from fixed traffic cameras, and helicopter reports.
Existing traffic presentations suffer from a number of shortcomings. For example, there is a great expense associated with establishing and maintaining a traffic camera network. Even with dense camera coverage, only a relatively small percentage of the station's designated market area (DMA) can be covered. Helicopters, while providing perhaps the best view of the current traffic situation, are often prohibitively expensive, especially for smaller markets where advertising revenue is substantially less than major markets. A helicopter also suffers from the inability to cover the entire market, especially if it is a geographically expansive area or if weather conditions are unfavorable. Beyond the expense of traditional traffic enhancements such as cameras and helicopters, the basic flow and incident information can also be confusing to the viewer, even when color-coding and icons are properly explained and include an on-air key.